138  Shorten Lengthy, Necessary Phrases

Some common phrases can be replaced with one word (Table 138.1), or contain redundant information (?tbl-redundant). Both types should be shortened when possible.

Replace … With …
In/with reference to … Regarding, Concerning (or omit)
In/with regards to … Regarding, Concerning (or omit)
Based on the fact that … Because, Since
Inasmuch as … Because
Insofar as … Because
Prior to … Before, By
No later than … Before, By
By means of … By
On the basis of … By, Given
For the purpose of … For, To
In order to … To
So as to … To
Referred to as … Called
Has the capability of … Can, is able
During the course of … During
An adequate amount of … Enough
With the exception of … Except
First of all … First
In the course of … In, While
In light of the fact that … Consequently, given that, regarding
Considerable number of … Many, Several
Considerable amount of … Much
Majority of … Most
At no time … Never
At the present time … Now, Currently
In many cases … Often
In some cases … Sometimes
During the time that … While, When, Concurrently
In the absence of … Without
Much/More better Better
Except for Except
Very close to zero Almost
In the event that … If, Given
In light of the fact that … Because, Since
Table 138.1: Many phrases can be replaced by a single word.

138.1 At the present time, there are a considerable number of permanent myeloma cell cultures in existence.

Currently, there are many permanent cultures of myeloma cells available for study.

It’s a given that these cell cultures exist, what needs to be mentioned is that they are available.